Virtual machine based on a mobile device

ABSTRACT

A request to provision a virtual machine (VM) based on a mobile communications device may be received. In response to the request to provision the VM, a phone number may be allocated to be associated with the VM based on the mobile communications device. Furthermore, VM based on the mobile communications device may be provisioned in view of the allocated phone number.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to virtual machines and, morespecifically, relate to a virtual machine based on a mobile device.

BACKGROUND

A virtual machine (VM) may be considered a software-based emulation ofcomputer hardware. For example, the virtual machine may operate based oncomputer architecture and functions of the computer hardware resources.Thus, the virtual machine may emulate a physical computing environment,but requests for CPU, memory, hard disk, network, and other hardwareresources may be managed by a virtualization layer which translatesthese requests to the underlying physical computing hardware resources.The virtualization layer may be part of a virtual machine managementapplication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given below and from the accompanying drawings of variousembodiments of the disclosure. The drawings, however, should not betaken to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiments, but are forexplanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system architecture in which embodimentsof the disclosure may operate.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example mobile virtual machine module inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example method to provision a virtualmachine based on a mobile communications device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example data center with host systems torun virtual machines based on a mobile communications device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example method to provide a usage andbilling service associated with the virtual machine based on a mobilecommunications device in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer systemin which some embodiments of the disclosure may operate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to a virtual machine (VM) based ona mobile device. A mobile virtual machine module may provision a virtualmachine to emulate a mobile device. In some embodiments, a mobile devicemay include, but is not limited to, a mobile communications device suchas a cellular phone. A virtual machine that emulates the mobilecommunications device may provide functionality or operations of themobile communications device to a user of the virtual machine. Forexample, a virtual machine based on a mobile communications device mayprovide communications functionality or operations as well as otherhardware functionality or operations.

A data center may include one or more host systems that may be part of avirtualization environment to provide one or more virtual machines. Forexample, physical resources of the data center such as, but not limitedto, central processing unit (CPU) resources, memory resources, networks,communication resources, and other hardware or software resources may beused to provide a virtual machine. In some embodiments, one or morevirtual machines may be run or provided on a host system of the datacenter. The host system may run virtual machines based on a mobilecommunications device and/or virtual machines based on a server orcomputer that is not a mobile communications device. For example, asingle host system of the data center may run a virtual machine based ona mobile communications device and another virtual machine based on acomputer (e.g., a conventional virtual machine that does not include thecommunication functionality or operations of a mobile communicationsdevice).

The provisioning or running of a virtual machine based on the mobilecommunications device may allow a user of the virtual machine to accessfunctionality or operations associated with a mobile communicationsdevice through the virtualization environment. For example, a virtualmachine based on the mobile communications device may be assigned aphone number so that a user of the virtual machine may access a phone ormessaging (e.g., short message service (SMS) text messages or multimediamessaging service (MMS) messages) capability or services associated withthe mobile communications device. In some embodiments, if the hostsystem receives a request to provision a virtual machine based on themobile communications device then the phone number may be assigned tothe virtual machine based on the requested virtual machine being basedon a mobile communications device. However, if the host system receivesa request to provision a virtual machine based on a computer or a serverthen the phone number may not be assigned to the virtual machine. Thus,the host system may run a first virtual machine that is associated witha phone number (e.g., a virtual machine based on the mobilecommunications device) and a second virtual machine that is notassociated with a phone number. As described in further detail below,additional functionality or operations of a mobile communication deviceaside from phone and messaging capabilities may further be providedthrough the virtual machine based on the mobile communications device.

The running by a host system of a virtual machine based on the mobilecommunications device may enable the testing of a configuration of amobile communications device through the virtualization environment. Forexample, the hardware and software capabilities of the mobilecommunications device may be emulated and used to test a mobilecommunications device by the virtual machine based on the mobilecommunications device. As an example, a virtual machine based on themobile communications device may be assigned a geographical location, aparticular service provider (e.g., a communications provider thatprovides cellular phone and/or messaging services), softwareapplications, and so forth. Thus, geographical tests associated with amobile communications device, tests between mobile communicationsdevices of different service providers, and so forth may be performed byusing the virtual machines based on a mobile communications device.

Furthermore, the performance and the billing of a virtual machine basedon the mobile communications device may be provided via thevirtualization environment. For example, usage statistics of the virtualmachine corresponding to communication operations or functionality of amobile communications device may be obtained. Additionally, the billingof the virtual machine based on the mobile communications device mayalso be based on the usage of the communication operations orfunctionality provided by the virtual machine. In some embodiments, thebilling of the virtual machine that is based on the mobilecommunications device may further be based on hardware usage (e.g., CPUusage, memory usage, and network bandwidth) of a host system or datacenter as well as the usage of communication operations or functionalityassociated with the virtual machine (e.g., call time and text messages).Furthermore, the utilization of the virtual machine based on the mobilecommunications device may be based on parameters that may limit usage ofthe virtual machine. The parameters that may limit the usage of thevirtual machine may be based on hardware resources (e.g., CPU, memory,network bandwidth) and/or communications resources (e.g., minutes of thephone capability used, number of text messages, etc.).

In some embodiments, a mobile virtual machine module may receive oridentify a request to provision a virtual machine that is to be based ona mobile communications device. Furthermore, the mobile virtual machinemodule may receive or identify mobile requirements of the virtualmachine. Furthermore, the mobile virtual machine module may allocate aphone number to the virtual machine in response to the provisioning ofthe virtual machine that is to be based on a mobile communicationsdevice and allocate hardware resources to the virtual machine. In someembodiments, the communications functionality or operation of a mobilecommunications device may thus be provided in a virtualizationenvironment and a billing and testing of the configuration and operationof a mobile communications device may be performed via the virtualmachine.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system architecture 100 in whichembodiments of the disclosure may operate. The system architecture 100includes a virtualization system 105 coupled to and accessible over anetwork 101 by a number of user devices 150A-150C. The virtualizationsystem 105 includes a variety of hardware resources 110 which mayinclude, but is not limited to, desktop computers, laptop computers,rackmount servers, routers, switches, tablet computers, mobile phones,or any other type of computing device. The hardware resources 110 mayinclude one or more processing devices, memory, and/or additionaldevices including, but not limited to, a graphics card, hardware RAIDcontroller, network controller, hard disk drive, universal serial bus(USB) device, internal input/output (I/O) device, keyboard, mouse,speaker, etc. The hardware resources 110 may be used to executesoftware, including one or more operating systems, virtual machines(e.g., a virtual machine based on a mobile communications device), orother applications. The virtualization system also includes an engine107 (which may execute on a portion of the hardware resources 110 or aseparate engine device) that manages the hardware resources 110 and theprocesses running on the hardware resources 110.

The hardware resources 110 include a number of hosts 120A-120C (or hostmachines or systems) each including a portion of the hardware resources110. The hosts 120A-120C may each include one or more processing devicesand one or more storage devices. The hardware resources 110 may furtherinclude one or more additional processing devices 112 and one or moreadditional storage devices 115. Furthermore, each host 120A-120C mayprovide one or more services such as, but not limited to, networkingservices, storage services, and software libraries. In some embodiments,the virtual machine monitors (VMMs) 124A-124C and/or the virtualmachines 141A-141C, 142A-142C, and 143A-143C may use the one or moreservices that are provided by the hosts 120A-120C. In some embodiments,the virtual machines 141A, 141B, and 141C may be a mobile virtualmachine (MVM) (e.g., a virtual machine based on a mobile communicationsdevice).

Each of the hosts 120A-120C includes a kernel space and a user spacedefined by the hardware resources of the host 120A-120C. A kernel-basedvirtual machine (KVM) 122A-122C is executed in the kernel space of thehost 120A-120C. The KVM 122A-122C allows a host 120A-120C to make itshardware and software resources or services available to virtualmachines 141A-143C and/or VMMs 124A-124C which may be executed in theuser space. In some embodiments, the hardware and software resourcesavailable to the mobile virtual machines 141A, 141B, and 141C mayinclude, but is not limited to, communication resources such as phonecapabilities and text messaging capabilities.

Each of the hosts 120A-120C may execute a virtual machine monitor (VMM)124A-124C (or a hypervisor or software package to be installed on thehost systems as described herein). The VMM 124A-124C is an applicationthat executes on a host 120A-120C to manage virtual machines 141A-143C.In particular, the VMM 124A-124C may instantiate or start, migrate,pause, or perform another type of event associated with virtual machines141A-143C. The VMM 124A-124C may include a virtualization API and amulti-platform emulator. Each virtual machine 141A-143C may execute aguest operating system that can be accessed by a user device 150A-150Cover the network 101. Each virtual machine 141A-143C may further runguest applications using the guest operating system.

Each of the hosts 120A-120C may include an agent 126A-126C. The agent126A-126C may facilitate inter-host communication and perform variousmonitoring and administrative tasks. The agent 126A-126C may alsoinclude functionality for acting as a storage pool manager (SPM) 130.However, in some embodiments, one of the hosts 120A may be active as theSPM at any one time. The host 120A may be designated an active SPM 130by the engine 107. The SPM 130 coordinates metadata changes in thevirtualization system 105, such as creating and deleting disk images,creating and merging snapshots, copying images between storage domains,creating templates and storage allocation for block devices of thehardware resources 110 such as hard drives or other storage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the hosts 120A-120C may include a mobilevirtual machine module 111A-111C. In some embodiments, the mobilevirtual machine modules 111A-111C may provision the mobile virtualmachines 141A, 141B, and 141C, assign a phone number to the mobilevirtual machines 141A, 141B, and 141C, and determine software packagesto be installed on the hosts 120A-120C (e.g., the VMMs 124A-124C).Further details with regard to the mobile virtual machine modules111A-111C are disclosed below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example mobile virtual machine module200 in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. In general,the mobile virtual machine module 200 may correspond to the mobilevirtual machine module 111A-111C of FIG. 1. The mobile virtual machinemodule 200 may include a provision request sub-module 210, a mobiledevice identifier sub-module 220, a phone number allocator sub-module230, a hardware allocator sub-module 240, a communications managersub-module 250, and a usage and billing sub-module 260. In alternativeembodiments, the functionality of one or more of the sub-modules may becombined or divided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile virtual machine module 200 may include aprovision request sub-module 210. In some embodiments, the provisionrequest sub-module 210 may receive a request from a user to provision avirtual machine to be run on a host system. Furthermore, the mobilevirtual machine module 200 may include a mobile device identifiersub-module 220. In some embodiments, the mobile device identifiersub-module 220 may identify that the request to provision the virtualmachine is associated with a virtual machine based on a mobilecommunications device (e.g., a MVM 141A, 141B, or 141C). For example,the mobile device identifier sub-module 220 may identify that the typeof virtual machine requested is based on a mobile communications device.Furthermore, the mobile virtual machine module 200 may include a phonenumber allocation sub-module 230. In some embodiments, the phone numberallocation sub-module 230 may allocate a phone number to the virtualmachine that is to be provisioned in response to the request received bythe provision request sub-module 210. In the same or alternativeembodiments, the phone number that is allocated to the virtual machinethat is based on the mobile communications device may be selected from agroup of available phone numbers associated with a host system and/or adata center that includes one or more host systems that may be used torun virtual machines. Thus, in some embodiments, a phone number may beallocated or assigned to the virtual machine in response to anidentification that the virtual machine is to be based on a mobilecommunications device.

Referring to FIG. 2, the mobile virtual machine module 200 may furtherinclude a configuration and hardware allocation sub-module 240. In someembodiments, the configuration and hardware allocation sub-module 240may allocate or assign hardware resources of a host system to run thevirtual machine. For example, the hardware resources and/orcommunications resources of the host system or the data center (e.g.,network bandwidth, CPU capability, and memory storage, phone numbers,etc.) may be assigned or allocated to the virtual machine. In someembodiments, the assigned or allocated hardware resources andcommunication resources may be based on the functionality and capabilityof a mobile communications device. Furthermore, the configuration andhardware allocation sub-module 240 may configure a virtual machine thatis based on a mobile communications device. For example, a request toprovision a virtual machine may identify that the virtual machine is tobe based on a mobile communications device and its communicationsfunctionality or operations are to be based on a particular serviceprovider, geographical location, or other such communications serviceparameter. The configuration and hardware allocation sub-module 240 maythus configure a setting or communications service parameter of thevirtual machine based on the requested service provider, geographicallocation, or other communications service parameter. The mobile virtualmachine module 200 may include a communications manager sub-module 250.In some embodiments, the communications manager sub-module 250 maymanage communications functions or operations (e.g., phone capability,voice mail, and messaging services) of the virtual machine that is basedon the mobile communications device.

The mobile virtual machine module 200 may further include a usage andbilling sub-module 260. In some embodiments, the usage and billingsub-module 260 may control the usage of the virtual machine that isbased on the mobile communications device as well as determine orcalculate billing information associated with the virtual machine thatis based on the mobile communications device. For example, the usage andbilling sub-module 260 may limit the usage of the virtual machine basedon mobile communications device parameters as well as emulate a billingsystem for a mobile communications device that is based on the usage ofthe communications functionality or operations of the mobilecommunications device as well as resources of the virtualizationenvironment (e.g., hardware resources of a host system).

As such, the mobile virtual machine module 200 may support theprovisioning and running of a virtual machine that is based on a mobilecommunications device by a host system of a data center. Additionaldetails with regard to the provisioning and running of a virtual machinebased on the mobile communications device are described below withregard to FIGS. 3-5.

FIG. 3 is an example method 300 to provision a virtual machine based ona mobile communications device. The method 300 may be performed byprocessing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., processing device,circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.),software (e.g., instructions run or executed on a processing device), ora combination thereof. In some embodiments, the method 300 may beperformed by the mobile virtual machine module 200 of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the method 300 may begin with the processing logicreceiving a request to provision a virtual machine based on a mobilecommunications device (block 310). For example, the processing logic mayreceive a request to provision a virtual machine and may identify thatthe requested virtual machine is to be based on a mobile communicationsdevice as opposed to a desktop computer or server. The processing logicmay allocate a phone number to the virtual machine that is based on themobile communications device (block 320). In some embodiments, the phonenumber may be allocated to the virtual machine in response to theidentification that the requested virtual machine is to be based on amobile communications device. For example, in some embodiments, arequested virtual machine may be based on a mobile communications deviceor may not be based on the mobile communications device (e.g., a desktopcomputer or server without the communication capabilities of the mobilecommunications device). The phone number may thus be allocated to therequested virtual machine if the virtual machine is to be based on amobile communications device and the phone number may not be allocatedto the requested virtual machine if the virtual machine is not to bebased on a mobile communications device.

In some embodiments, the phone number may be allocated to the virtualmachine based on a group or set of available phone numbers. For example,a host system of a data center may be associated with a group or set ofavailable phone numbers. In some embodiments, one of the phone numbersof the group or set available for the host system that is to run thevirtual machine may be allocated to the virtual machine. Furthermore, insome embodiments, a single phone number may be assigned to multiplevirtual machines that are based on a mobile communications device. Forexample, a first phone number may be assigned to a first virtual machineand the first phone number may also be assigned to a second virtualmachine. In such a case, either the first virtual machine or the secondvirtual machine may access communication operations or functionality viathe same first phone number.

Referring to FIG. 3, the processing logic may receive hardwarerequirements and software requirements of the mobile communicationsdevice to be emulated by the virtual machine (block 330). In someembodiments, the hardware requirements and the software requirements ofthe mobile communications device may include, but is not limited to, anoperating system, screen size, resolution, CPU type, memory, and whetherthe mobile communications device is to have a front camera and/or a backcamera. In some embodiments, when the hardware requirements of themobile communications device specifies that the mobile communicationsdevice is to have a front camera and/or a back camera then a remotecamera may be assigned to the mobile communications device. For example,a host system to run a virtual machine may be associated with one ormore remote cameras in a data center. If a virtual machine is to includea front camera and a back camera then a first remote camera and a secondremote camera of the data center may be assigned to the virtual machine.Thus, in some embodiments, if a user of the virtual machine that isbased on a mobile communications device that includes a camerafunctionality uses the camera functionality of the virtual machine thenthe user may access a remote camera of the data center that has beenassigned to the virtual machine.

Referring to FIG. 3, the processing logic may assign a service providerand a geographical location to communications operations orfunctionality of the virtual machine (block 340). For example, aspreviously described, a phone number may be allocated to the virtualmachine that is based on a mobile communications device. In someembodiments, a service provider that provides a communications servicebased on the phone number may be assigned to the virtual machine. In thesame or alternative embodiments, the service provider may be selectedfrom multiple service providers that may be used to provide a servicefor the communications operations or functionality of the virtualmachine. For example, a first service provider (e.g., a first cellularnetwork provider) may be assigned to the virtual machine and a firstsoftware package or configuration to provide the communication servicesfor the virtual machine may be provided to or accessed by the virtualmachine or a second service provider may be assigned to the virtualmachine and a second software package or configuration to providecommunication services for the second service provider may be providedto or accessed by the virtual machine. Furthermore, a geographicallocation may be assigned to the virtual machine. For example, anidentification of a phone number area code, country, region, or othergeographical locations may be assigned to the virtual machine. Aconfiguration setting of the virtual machine may be adjusted or assignedbased on the geographical location assigned to the virtual machine. Insome embodiments, the configuration setting of the virtual machine maybe adjusted after the provisioning of the virtual machine. For example,a first configuration setting associated with a first geographicallocation may be assigned to the virtual machine when it is firstprovisioned and at a later time a second geographical location may beassigned to the virtual machine.

In some embodiments, the communications functionality or operation of avirtual machine based on the mobile communications device may be testedbased on the configuration settings that are assigned to the virtualmachine. For example, a first virtual machine may be assigned a firstservice provider and a first geographical region and communicationsoperations or functionality of the first virtual machine may be tested.In some embodiments, the testing of the communications operations orfunctionality may include, but is not limited to, the using of thecommunications operations or functionality of the virtual machine. As anexample, a command to place a phone call or transmit a text message maybe transmitted to the first virtual machine and the operations of thefirst virtual machine in response to the command may be recorded toverify if the first virtual machine operated correctly or did notoperate correctly when placing the phone call or transmitting the textmessage. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the interaction between thefirst virtual machine and a second virtual machine with differentcommunications configuration settings may be tested. For example, thesecond virtual machine that is based on a mobile communications devicemay be assigned a second service provider and a second geographicallocation. A phone call or text message from the first virtual machine tothe second virtual machine may be initiated and recorded to test theoperations of the first virtual machine interacting with the secondvirtual machine that has different assigned configuration settings. Forexample, the successful transmission or placement of the text message orphone call from the first virtual machine and the successful receivingof the text message or phone call may be tested. Furthermore, in someembodiments, billing services associated with the geographical locationmay be tested. In some embodiments, the geographical location maycorrespond to roaming charges in a billing service. In the same oralternative embodiments, roaming charges may refer to billing expensesassociated with communications functions or operations associated with afirst geographical location (e.g., a virtual machine based on a mobilecommunications device that is assigned a configuration parameter of thefirst geographical location) and a second geographical location. Forexample, in some embodiments, a billing charge or expense may be greaterwhen a communications operation is between two virtual machines ofdifferent geographical locations as opposed to when the communicationsoperation is between two virtual machines with the same geographicallocation. Furthermore, a test may be performed between the first virtualmachine and the second virtual machine based on the service providersassigned to the first and virtual machines. For example, the firstvirtual machine may be assigned a first service provider and the secondvirtual machine may be assigned a second service provider. The use ofcommunications services provided by the first service provider for thefirst virtual machine may be tested by transmitting a communication(e.g., a phone call or a text message) from the first virtual machine toa second virtual machine that may be assigned a second service providerthat is different than the first service provider. Thus, communicationsbetween different service providers may be tested based on the virtualmachines.

As shown in FIG. 3, the processing logic may further provision thevirtual machine on a host system (block 350). For example, theprocessing logic may provision the virtual machine to be run on the hostsystem based on the allocated phone number, hardware and softwarerequirements, service provider, and geographical location to be assignedto the virtual machine that is based on a mobile communications device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example data center 400 with hostsystems to run virtual machines based on a mobile communications device.In general, the data center 400 may include host systems 410 and 420that may each correspond to the virtualization system 105 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the data center 400 may include a first host system410 and a second host system 420. A network 430 may enablecommunications between the first host system 410 and the second hostsystem 420. For example, a virtual machine that is run by the first hostsystem 410 may receive and/or transmit information or data to anothervirtual machine that is run by the second host system 420. In someembodiments, the first host system 410 and the second host system 420may run virtual machines that are based on a mobile communicationsdevice and virtual machines that are not based on a mobilecommunications device. For example, the first host system 410 may run avirtual machine 411, a virtual machine 412, and a virtual machine 413and the second host system 420 may run a virtual machine 421 and avirtual machine 422. The virtual machine 411 may not be based on amobile communications device while the virtual machines 412 and 413 maybe based on a mobile communications device. Furthermore, the virtualmachine 421 may not be based on a mobile communications device and thevirtual machine 422 may be based on a mobile communications device.Thus, both the first host system 410 and the second host system 420 maybe run both types of virtual machines. In some embodiments, a virtualmachine that is based on a mobile communications device may communicatewith another virtual machine that is not based on a mobilecommunications device (e.g., over the network 430) by using a networkaddress such as a media access control (MAC) address or an InternetProtocol (IP) address.

As previously described, a phone number may be assigned or allocated toa virtual machine that is based on a mobile communications device. Forexample, a first phone number may be assigned to the virtual machine412, a second phone number may be assigned to the virtual machine 413,and a third phone number may be assigned to the virtual machine 422. Inalternative embodiments, the first phone number may be assigned to thevirtual machines 412 and 413 and the second phone number may be assignedto the virtual machine 422.

Thus, a data center may include multiple host systems that each may runone or more virtual machines. The virtual machines of the host systemsmay be based on a mobile communications device.

In some embodiments, a virtual machine that is based on a mobilecommunications device may be associated with different softwarelibraries than a virtual machine that is not based on a mobilecommunications device. A software library may refer to programming codethat may implement a certain behavior. In some embodiments, a higherlevel program (e.g., an operating system associated with a virtualmachine) may use a software library to make calls that implementbehavior based on the programming code of the software library. Thus, avirtual machine that is based on a mobile communications device may beassigned one or more software libraries that provide or implementcommunications functions or operations and a virtual machine that is notbased on the mobile communications device may be assigned differentsoftware libraries that do not provide or implement the communicationsfunctions or operations of a mobile communications device.

FIG. 5 is an illustrated example method 500 to provide a usage andbilling service associated with the virtual machine based on a mobilecommunications device. The method 500 may be performed by processinglogic that may comprise hardware (e.g., processing device, circuitry,dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g.,instructions run or executed on a processing device), or a combinationthereof. In some embodiments, the method 500 may be performed by themobile virtual machine module 200 of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 5, the method 500 may begin with the processing logicidentifying a virtual machine based on a mobile communications device(510). For example, a virtual machine based on a mobile communicationsdevice that is running on a host system of a data center may beidentified. The processing logic may further monitor the communicationsusage of the virtual machine (block 520). For example, as previouslydescribed, a virtual machine that is based on a mobile communicationsdevice may be assigned a phone number and a service provider. In someembodiments, a communications usage limitation may be assigned to thevirtual machine. For example, an amount of call time and/or number ofmessages using the assigned phone number and the assigned serviceprovider may be specified for the virtual machine. In some embodiments,a first communications usage limitation may specify a maximum amount ofcall time and/or number of messages that the virtual machine may sendand/or receive to another virtual machine in the data center and asecond communications usage limitation that may specify a maximum amountof call time and/or number of messages that the virtual machine may sendand/or receive to an endpoint (e.g., another phone number) that is notin the data center (e.g., a call to an endpoint that is not anothervirtual machine). Thus, the communications usage limitation of a virtualmachine that is based on a mobile communications device may specify amaximum usage of the virtual machine to use the communicationcapabilities or functionality. The processing logic may further monitorhardware resource utilization of the virtual machine (block 530). Forexample, an amount of CPU usage or memory usage associated with thevirtual machine may be monitored.

The processing logic may further determine if the virtual machine hasmet or exceeded a communications usage limitation (block 540). Forexample, if the communications usage of the virtual machine meets orexceeds a threshold value then the communications capabilities orfunctionality of the virtual machine may be disabled (block 550). Forexample, the communications capabilities of the virtual machine based onthe assigned phone number may be disabled. Furthermore, a billing costfor the virtual machine may be calculated based on the communicationsusage and the hardware utilization (block 560). Thus, a billingstatement for the virtual machine may be based on the communicationsoperations and the hardware utilization of the virtual machine in thedata center. However, if the communications usage of the virtual machinedoes not meet or exceed the threshold value then the communicationscapabilities or functionality of the virtual machine may not be disabledand the virtual machine may continue to use the communicationscapabilities or functionality based on the assigned phone number (block570). Furthermore, a billing cost for the virtual machine may becalculated based on the communications usage and the hardwareutilization (block 580).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example machine of a computer system 600 withinwhich a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. Inalternative implementations, the machine may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, and/orthe Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in client-server network environment, as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment, or as a serveror a client machine in a cloud computing infrastructure or environment.

The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a webappliance, a server, a network router, a switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also betaken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointlyexecute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 600 includes a processing device 602, a mainmemory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or DRAM (RDRAM),etc.), a static memory 606 (e.g., flash memory, static random accessmemory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 618, which communicatewith each other via a bus 630.

Processing device 602 represents one or more general-purpose processingdevices such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit, or thelike. More particularly, the processing device may be complexinstruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW)microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, orprocessors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processingdevice 602 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devicessuch as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP),network processor, or the like. The processing device 602 is configuredto execute instructions 622 for performing the operations and stepsdiscussed herein.

The computer system 600 may further include a network interface device608. The computer system 600 also may include a video display unit 610(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 614 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 616 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 618 may include a machine-readable storagemedium 628 (also known as a computer-readable medium) on which is storedone or more sets of instructions or software 622 embodying any one ormore of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 622 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 604 and/or within the processing device 602during execution thereof by the computer system 600, the main memory 604and the processing device 602 also constituting machine-readable storagemedia.

In one implementation, the instructions 622 include instructions for arow module (e.g., mobile virtual machine module 111A-111C of FIG. 1and/or mobile virtual machine module 200 of FIG. 2) and/or a softwarelibrary containing methods that call modules or sub-modules in a mobilevirtual machine module. While the machine-readable storage medium 628 isshown in an example implementation to be a single medium, the term“machine-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “machine-readable storage medium” shall also betaken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a setof instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machineto perform any one or more of the methodologies of the presentdisclosure. The term “machine-readable storage medium” shall accordinglybe taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories,optical media and magnetic media.

Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presentedin terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations ondata bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the ways used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to adesired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily,these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capableof being stored, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, itis appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “identifying” or “determining” or “executing” or“performing” or “collecting” or “creating” or “sending” or the like,refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similarelectronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms datarepresented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem's registers and memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computer system memories or registers orother such information storage devices.

The present disclosure also relates to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for theintended purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of diskincluding floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-opticaldisks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs,EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specializedapparatus to perform the method. The structure for a variety of thesesystems will appear as set forth in the description below. In addition,the present disclosure is not described with reference to any particularprogramming language. It will be appreciated that a variety ofprogramming languages may be used to implement the teachings of thedisclosure as described herein.

The present disclosure may be provided as a computer program product, orsoftware, that may include a machine-readable medium having storedthereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer system (orother electronic devices) to perform a process according to the presentdisclosure. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium includes amachine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium such as a read onlymemory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storagemedia, optical storage media, flash memory devices, etc.

In the foregoing specification, implementations of the disclosure havebeen described with reference to specific example implementationsthereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be madethereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope ofimplementations of the disclosure as set forth in the following claims.The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request toprovision a first virtual machine (VM) based on a mobile communicationsdevice; allocating, in response to the request to provision the firstVM, a phone number to be associated with the first VM based on themobile communications device; and provisioning, by a processing device,the first VM based on the mobile communications device in view of theallocated phone number.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first VMis provisioned on a host system in a virtualization environment, andwherein the host system comprises at least one additional VM that is notbased on a mobile communications device, and wherein a libraryassociated with the first VM based on the mobile communications deviceis different than a library associated with the at least one additionalVM that is not based on the mobile communications device.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: after the provisioning of the first VMbased on the mobile communications device, determining a communicationsusage associated with the allocated phone number and a hardware usageassociated with the first VM based on the mobile communications device;and providing a billing estimate in view of the communications usageassociated with the allocated phone number and the hardware usageassociated with the first VM.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: assigning a first geographical location to the first VMbased on the mobile communications device.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein a second VM based on a second mobile communications device isassigned a second phone number, and wherein the method furthercomprises: transmitting a communication from the first VM to the secondVM in view of the first phone number and the second phone number.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the first VM is associated with a firstservice provider that is associated with a communication service of thefirst VM, and wherein the second VM is associated with a secondgeographical location and a second service provider associated with acommunication service of the second VM, and wherein the transmitting ofthe communication is further in view of the first service provider andthe second service provider.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thetransmitting of the communication from the first VM to the second VM istested by verifying that the second VM associated with the secondservice provider and the second geographical location receives thetransmission of the communication from the first VM.
 8. A system,comprising: a memory; and a processing device coupled with the memoryto: receiving a request to provision a first virtual machine (VM) basedon a mobile receive device; allocate, in response to the request toprovision the first VM, a phone number to be associated with the firstVM based on the mobile communications device; and provision the first VMbased on the mobile communications device in view of the allocated phonenumber.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first VM is provisioned ona host system in a virtualization environment, and wherein the hostsystem comprises at least one additional VM that is not based on amobile communications device, and wherein a library associated with thefirst VM based on the mobile communications device is different than alibrary associated with the at least one additional VM that is not basedon the mobile communications device.
 10. The system of claim 8, whereinthe processing device is further to: after the provisioning of the firstVM based on the mobile communications device, determining acommunications usage associated with the allocated phone number and ahardware usage associated with the first VM based on the mobilecommunications device; and providing a billing estimate in view of thecommunications usage associated with the allocated phone number and thehardware usage associated with the first VM.
 11. The system of claim 8,wherein the processing device is further to: assign a first geographicallocation to the first VM based on the mobile communications device. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein a second VM based on a second mobilecommunications device is assigned a second phone number, and wherein themethod further comprises: transmitting a communication from the first VMto the second VM in view of the first phone number and the second phonenumber.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first VM is associatedwith a first service provider that is associated with a communicationservice of the first VM, and wherein the second VM is associated with asecond geographical location and a second service provider associatedwith a communication service of the second VM, and wherein thetransmitting of the communication is further in view of the firstservice provider and the second service provider.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the transmitting of the communication from the firstVM to the second VM is tested by verifying that the second VM associatedwith the second service provider and the second geographical locationreceives the transmission of the communication from the first VM.
 15. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium including data that, whenaccessed by a processing device, cause the processing device to performoperations comprising: receiving a request to provision a first virtualmachine (VM) based on a mobile communications device; allocating, inresponse to the request to provision the first VM, a phone number to beassociated with the first VM based on the mobile communications device;and provisioning the first VM based on the mobile communications devicein view of the allocated phone number.
 16. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first VM isprovisioned on a host system in a virtualization environment, andwherein the host system comprises at least one additional VM that is notbased on a mobile communications device, and wherein a libraryassociated with the first VM based on the mobile communications deviceis different than a library associated with the at least one additionalVM that is not based on the mobile communications device.
 17. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise: after the provisioning of the first VMbased on the mobile communications device, determining a communicationsusage associated with the allocated phone number and a hardware usageassociated with the first VM based on the mobile communications device;and providing a billing estimate in view of the communications usageassociated with the allocated phone number and the hardware usageassociated with the first VM.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:assigning a first geographical location to the first VM based on themobile communications device.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 18, wherein a second VM based on a second mobilecommunications device is assigned a second phone number, and wherein themethod further comprises: transmitting a communication from the first VMto the second VM in view of the first phone number and the second phonenumber; and transmitting a communication from the first VM to a third VMthat is not based on a mobile communications device in view of a networkaddress associated with the third VM.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the first VM isassociated with a first service provider that is associated with acommunication service of the first VM, and wherein the second VM isassociated with a second geographical location and a second serviceprovider associated with a communication service of the second VM, andwherein the transmitting of the communication is further in view of thefirst service provider and the second service provider.